


Free Me, Leave Me

by lifeisinfinitelystranger



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Drug Use, klaus hargreeves - Freeform, reginald hargreeves is a dick, young klaus hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 14:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17982440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeisinfinitelystranger/pseuds/lifeisinfinitelystranger
Summary: The beginnings of Klaus' descent into drug abuse at the young age of twelve. First chapter (if I write more than one) based on discussion between Klaus and Diego in episode five.(Obviously drug use/mention in the fic... Hopefully, rating is ok? I never know what to do.)





	Free Me, Leave Me

Saturday, December 8th 2001  
12:00 p.m.

The clock struck twelve. Reginald Hargreeves waited for the chiming to stop before clearing his throat, “You now have one half hour of free time. You are dismissed. Except you, Number 6.”

The other Hargreeves children gave Ben a sympathetic look, which Ben missed as he stared down at his feet. 

The five mumbled their goodbyes as they filed past. Once out of the door they raced for the stairs. Five annoyingly did one of his spatial jumps, beating the others to the top, before heading to his room and slamming it shut. Luther and Allison peeled off to their not-so-secret hideout. Diego sought out Mom who was off dusting somewhere. And Klaus, well, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself. He didn’t particularly like being alone, but Ben had been ordered to stay for more training. 

He paced the hallway humming to himself. Vanya’s room was to the left and her violin music could be heard from within. She didn’t have to go to the training earlier, lucky her. The door wasn’t closed all the way, so Klaus pushed it open. She was completely focused on playing, her eyes closed, so she didn’t see Klaus as he poked his head in. 

“Not bad,” Klaus said, not really intending for the compliment to be heard. Vanya did have a talent for playing the violin. He pulled the door shut and made his way down the hall. Luther’s door was shut, as always, but Allison’s was wide open. Clothes were scattered around her room. Klaus inched towards the door. An internal debate waged over whether he should go in. It was pretty one sided, however. It’s not like she would know, she was elsewhere in the house, and she had left her door open. Plus, he knew he would rock whatever dresses Allison had stashed in the back of her closet. He took the open door to be his open invitation. 

Klaus walked towards the closet. As he passed the bed, he grabbed a red boa and wrapped it around his neck. It’d been awhile since he’d gone snooping in here. He pushed aside the schoolgirl uniforms, finding “civilian” clothes far to the right. Klaus let out a gasp. “Oh, Allison. This is perfection.” He pulled the dress out of the closet and held it up against his body. “Yes yes yes…” he said as he admired himself in the mirror, trying to ignore the dead he saw in the reflection. It was hard to do with the constant cacophony of their screams, but he was doing his best to block them out.

The dress was a scooped necked princess short dress, with a big fluffy tulle skirt. It was in a gorgeous deep purple color. He just had to try it on, it would be perfect to spin in. Wasting no time, Klaus took off his Umbrella Academy uniform and pulled the dress over his head. It was just a little large on his skinny frame, but it fell nicely to just above his knees. He smiled at his reflection in the mirror and gave a little spin. 

As he faced the mirror again, he frowned. He needed shoes to go with the dress. Klaus hadn’t been able to wear Allison’s shoes for the last year or so, they were too small. But he needed to complete the outfit. He eyed a pair of too small heels and wondered if there were any way they would fit. That’s when he had a bright idea. “Mom!”

Without a second thought Klaus dashed down the hall avoiding touching the dead that had congregated in Allison’s room. He headed up another flight of stairs. Although Mom didn’t need to sleep per se, she did have a room in which she kept her clothes. Well, not a room so much as a walk-in closet the size of a room, bigger than any of the kids’ rooms.

Klaus knocked lightly on the door, just in case Mom inside. He couldn’t hear anything but better safe than sorry. There was no answer. He turned the knob and entered. His eyes grew wide. He would have to try on some of these dresses at some point, although mother’s style was very much 50s housewife, they would be fun to wear. He ran his fingers along the fabric of the dresses as he made his way to the shoes. A pair of 3-inch red heels grabbed his attention, and he pulled them off the shelf clutching them to his chest. He sat on an ottoman in the middle of the room to put them on. 

Keeping a hand on the ottoman he shakily got to his feet. They were a little big, but they looked great. Klaus carefully made his way to the mirror. He clapped his hands and grinned at his reflection. These shoes really did pull the outfit together. Taking some of the skirt fabric in hand he gave another spin. The sound of a clock chiming stopped him in his tracks.

“Shit.” It was 12:30, time for afternoon lessons. Where had the time gone? Father did not permit tardiness. There would be no time to change. His clothes were in Allison’s room anyway. He’d rather be on time in this outfit than late. Although, he was unsure who would be the angriest about him wearing Allison’s dress, father or Allison herself. Klaus waved the thought away. There was no time.

Klaus rushed out of the room as fast as he could in the heels. He started down the stairs, making entirely too much noise. A little less than halfway down one of the heels got caught in a crack in the stairs. The heel stopped but his body continued forward and down. He failed to grab onto the railing and his arms pinwheeled as he fell face first to the ground. There was screaming, whether it was the dead or him he couldn’t be sure. He landed with a sickening crunch. Blinding pain accompanied with the taste of blood. And then all was black. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Klaus.” “Klaus.” “Klaus.”

Klaus whimpered. It was the dead. They’d come to him again. It was endless, they just wouldn’t leave him alone. He didn't ask for this.

“Klaus!” 

“Klaus wake up.” 

“Open your eyes Number Four.”

Klaus’ eyes shot open at that name. The dead never called him that. Only his father. Wait… was his father dead? No that couldn’t be right. His vision slowly came into focus. To his right stood Ben and Vanya, with their father sitting in a chair right behind them writing something in his notebook. He felt a pinch in his left hand and turned to look at what had caused it. Mom had inserted an IV. He spotted Luther, Allison, Five, and a very queasy looking Diego behind her. There were also several dead around, their mouths open screaming, but they sounded muffled.

“Does it hurt, dear?” Mom asked, lightly touching his face with her cool fingers. That light touch seemed to spark a sharp pain in his jaw. He tried to open his mouth to respond, and found it impossible, and painful. His attempt at nodding also hurt. Klaus closed his eyes, he could feel the tears trickling down his face. Mom carefully dabbed his face.

“Give him a little more, Grace.” 

There was another pinch, but only for a moment. Klaus heard a loud thunk.

“For God’s sake. The boy kills with knives, but he can’t deal with needles. Honestly, it's a disgrace. Number One take Number Two out of here. The rest of you go too. I’ll be out shortly to continue your training.” Reginald Hargreeves ordered.

Luther lifted a mumbling Diego and carried him out the door. Allison, Vanya, and Five followed. Ben hesitated.

“Number Six, go with your siblings.” Father said sternly, causing Ben to jump. Ben squeezed Klaus’ hand. Mother placed a hand on Ben’s back and steered him out of the room.

The pain medication began working quickly, the pain had lessened to a dull ache. He looked to the dead once again. Their mouths were open in silent screams. That was almost more of a relief than the numbing of the pain. Sweet blissful silence. There was something else different about them. They appeared translucent, less solid looking. Surely, he was seeing things, well… different things from what he normally saw.

“Number Four, are you listening to me?” Klaus slowly turned his attention away from the dead and to his father. He struggled to keep his eyes open. “You have broken your jaw, while being incredibly foolish. I won’t allow that nonsense in my house again. Do you understand?” He seemed to take Klaus’ slow blink as an affirmative answer. “Good.”

“We had to wire your jaw shut. It will remain as such for at least eight weeks,” father informed Klaus. He made a note in his journal before closing it and getting up from his seat. “When you’re well enough I expect you back at training. This is no reason for you to lollygag. We have much work to do.”

Reginald Hargreeves turned on his heel and left the room. Mom tucked Klaus’ blankets around him. Klaus could hear father yelling at his siblings, down the hall. Evidently, they had not gone far when father ordered them out. 

Mom kissed Klaus’ forehead. “Rest now, dear,” she said as she made her way to the door. She blew him another kiss before flipping off the light switch and closing the door behind her.

Now it was just Klaus and the dead in the room. Only… he wasn’t sure the dead were still here. There was the silence for one thing, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he didn’t see any of the dead that normally haunted him. What was different about right now? He racked his sluggish brain. Searching for an answer. When it came to him. The pain medicine for his jaw. It had to be that. The first injection caused them to become silent, with the second they disappeared.

Klaus laid his head back and closed his eyes savoring the sweet silence. Tears welled in his eyes. At last, there was a way to block out the dead. This thought comforted him and he fell into the most restful sleep he’d had in years.

**Author's Note:**

> This might turn into a random collection of Klaus drug stories, but we'll see. I don't have high hopes on me continuing stories.
> 
> Sorry for any typos... I finished this at like 4 in the morning.
> 
> Thanks for any comments and/or kudos.


End file.
